GameCity Prize announced: 'This is the Mercury Prize for video games'

The GameCity Prize has been unveiled by Nottingham video game exhibition GameCity.

Aimed to become the video game equivalent of the Mercury, Turner and Booker Prizes, the award will uncover the best gaming release of the last 12 months.

With no restrictions on each nominated entry in terms of budget or scale, nominees include Portal 2, Limbo, Pokemon Black and Child of Eden.

The jury is formed of individuals from fields outside of the industry, including musicians You Me At Six and Blur's Dave Rowntree, Doctor Who actress Frances Barber, Southbank Centre's art director Jude Kelly OBE and Tom Watson MP.

"I'm bored of the debate of whether games are 'art' or not - the question isn't 'if' they're interesting, but 'how' and 'why'," said GameCity director Iain Simons.

"The GameCity Prize is about video games gaining cultural confidence and expressing their value in something other than financial terms. If games are worth almost £3 billion a year in the UK - then surely they're worth thinking about too."

Frances Barber added: "I'm not a huge video game player - yet - but as an artist I'm very interested in all forms of cultural expression.

"I'm thrilled to have this opportunity in the GameCity Prize to discover what the world of video games might hold for me, what kind of worlds, characters and emotions they can create. I can't wait to start playing."

The winner will be unveiled at the end of the GameCity 6 expo on October 29.